-Chapter Fifty Two-

“You’re so pretty, Alex. I mean like, really pretty.” Audrey stumbled for a second, then straightened up, looking at the stars that were beginning to show overhead. “You’re as pretty as the stars. They’re so sparkly. And shiny!” A giggle bubbled from out of her lips.

          “Audrey, how much did you have to drink?” Jake questioned. To be honest, I was wondering the same thing. For the last five to ten minutes, she had been slurring incoherent and incomplete sentences. About ninety-five percent of what she said didn’t even make sense. Nonsense.

           “I don’t know, I lost count after a couple of drinks. Why does it even matter? It’s not like I’m drunk or anything.” She stumbled once again, almost falling to the ground and nearly injuring herself this time. Jake and I had to catch her before that could happen. “Oops.”

           “You can’t even walk properly. Or stand up straight, for that matter,” Jake stated, pointing out the obvious.

           “Yes I can. I told you, I’m not drunk. Maybe a tad bit tipsy, yes, but not drunk.”

          I saw Jake roll his eyes and bit back a laugh. Yeah, Audrey’s definitely the denial kind of drunk, I suppose.

           “Okay, whatever, Audrey. We’re taking you home.”

          She let out a loud grunt, stomping her right foot onto the pavement like a child. “No! I don’t want to go home.” She let out a little, bubbly laugh again. “I want to stay up all night and watch the stars, and sing, and play Monopoly. Yeah, that sounds exciting!”

           “No, we aren’t going to play Monopoly, honey,” I told her in a slow voice. “We’re going to have to take you home, alright?”

           “Alex…” she drawled, “I don’t wanna go home.”

           “Fine, you want to hang with us for a little bit?” She nodded. “Okay, well we’re going to go to Vicky’s house and I’m sure we can play Monopoly there.” I glanced from Audrey’s eyes to Jake’s, meeting his gaze. He was looking at me like I was crazy, as if wondering why in the world I would propose such a preposterous idea. I gave him a look, saying that I had a plan.

           “Okay,” she mumbled into my shoulder, leaning more onto it.

          By the time we got home, it was just almost eight o’clock PM. Audrey was passed out in the backseat of the car with a thin line of drool dribbling down her chin. Even after waking her up, she still seemed dead to the world.

          Once we were in the house, we guided her to a guest room upstairs, leaving a few Advil pills and a glass of water on the bedside table for whenever she decided it would be a good time to come back to reality. She was out cold as soon as she touched the bed.

           “Thanks, Alex,” Jake said. “For helping with her, and all.”

           “No problem.” I put my arm around his waist as we walked down the corridor, side by side. It wasn’t exactly how I thought we’d spend the rest of the evening, but I was fine with whatever we did. Especially if I still got to see him; even if that does sound insanely sappy.

          He stopped in his tracks. “Are you sure? Because that’s not what I expected to hear from you.”

          Giving him a weird look, I replied, “What do you mean? What did you expect me to say?”

           “Well, if you didn’t notice, you just helped me haul my drunk, ex-girlfriend out of a bar, without even complaining. You don’t see the problem? Seriously?”

          A smile formed on my lips. “No, I don’t. Because one, I don’t care that she’s your ex. You’ve already told me that you don’t have any feelings for her at all, so that doesn’t bother me. Two, it would be the same thing if you were to help me haul out Danielle from a bar. Because in the end, I was just helping you help out a friend, right?”

           “I guess… Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I nodded and a grin broke out onto his face. After kissing my cheek, he said, “You’ve got to be the best girlfriend ever.”

           “I know I am,” I told him. “And you’re the best boyfriend ever.”

           “I know I am,” he copied, still grinning. “Sorry that we didn’t go out to dinner like we had planned.”

           “I don’t care about dinner. I’d much rather stay here and cuddle in a warm pair of sweats under a cozy blanket with a movie playing on the flat screen.”

           “Me, too.”

          And that’s exactly how we spent the rest of the evening. We watched three different movies, both wearing sweats. Well, Jake was shirtless with sweatpants on, but that was just a plus, and he probably knew I preferred him that way anyways. We made extra buttery popcorn and found the biggest, warmest blanket we could, and overall our night was pretty darn close to perfect.

          By two AM, the credits of our last movie were rolling at a slow pace across the screen. “I didn’t even know it was this late,” I said truthfully after glancing at my phone.

           “What time is it?”

           “Two in the morning,” I told him, letting out an unattractive yawn. “Do you want to spend the night again?”

          He smirked at me. “Do you want me to?” After glaring at him, he added, already knowing what I was really thinking, “Sure.”

           “Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m going to head upstairs to throw the trash away and get a drink.”

           “Hurry back.” He winked at me and I rolled my eyes. As I was pushing myself up from the couch, he abruptly pulled me back by my wrist so that my chest collided with his. I let out a  gasp as his lips made contact with my own because the whole gesture was completely unexpected. Even though it was absolutely unpredictable, I was still quick to respond, kissing him back slowly. All the amazing feelings still flooded in, and I still didn’t know why his kisses still had that “honeymoon effect” on me. Maybe because you’re in love with him?

          The kiss didn’t last too long, sadly, ending when Jake tugged on my bottom lip with his teeth. As much as I tried to hold it in, a groan still came out. I saw Jake smirk in the dim lighting, knowing all too well the affect that he seemed to have on me.

          Oh, he thought he won, didn’t he? To get him back for that, I bit my bottom lip (which he apparently thought was sexy) and kept eye contact with him as my I grazed my fingertips down the hard plains of his abdomen. He closed his eyes and I think I heard him gulp. Then just to make his reaction even better, I grinded him just the slightest bit, leaning towards his ear. After gently biting his earlobe, I whispered to him, “It’s called payback.” Then, I stood up with the snack trash in one hand, and went upstairs (making sure to sway my hips, of course), leaving my boyfriend dazed and the tiniest bit confused.

          Wow, I was good. I gave myself a mental high five, and by the time I got upstairs, I was giggling to myself. Maybe I should use seduction to my advantage a lot more. It was a good idea.

          After throwing the trash away and grabbing two bottles of water (I thought Jake would maybe want one, too), I turned around to go back into the basement. I stopped as I heard footsteps coming down the staircase. Backing up, I went to go see who it was.

          After realizing it was Audrey, I went to go help her. She was still stumbling, and she could’ve fallen at any given moment. I was still completely clueless as to how much she drank. The alcohol obviously hadn’t worn off yet.

           “Audrey, what are you doing awake? Are you trying to hurt yourself?”

           “No, I’m not. I woke up and I have to pee. You know, it was really sweet of Jake to come pick me up today.”

           “Yes, I know it was. Why are you coming downstairs?”

           “I have to pee. And I want to tell Jake something because it’s been bugging me.”

           “There’s a bathroom in the room you were sleeping in,” I explained to her, sighing.

           “Oh.” Her head dropped and I heard her mumble, “Oh God.” Before I knew it, she was stumbling off to the nearest bathroom, which was thankfully just down the hallway we stood by. I rushed after her as I heard her upchuck her stomach. I held her hair back for her, trying to stay as far away as I could, the repugnant smell already floating through the air.

           “Audrey, are you okay?” I asked her when she was done. She took some of the toilet paper and wiped her mouth with it.

          After flushing it, along with her puke, she answered, “No. I guess. I’m not sure.”

           “I think you should get back upstairs and get some more rest, okay?”

           “Alright. And could you tell Jake for me next time you see him?”

           “Sure, what do you want me to tell him?”

           “That I miss him. Because I’m still in love with him.”

          I paused, my mouth open. Did she even realize what she just said? She probably doesn’t even know where she is. “Uh, um. Y-yeah,” I stuttered.

           “Thank you, Alex. You’re such a great friend,” she said, throwing her arms around my neck. I pulled back because one, she smelled of throw up, and two, she just said that she was still in love with Jake, and I didn’t know exactly how to handle that just yet.

           “Uh-huh,” I murmured absentmindedly, still trying to process this whole situation.

           “Goodnight.” She went back upstairs, and I decided to not help her up the stairs. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I should’ve because she’s still not completely right in the head, but I remained rooted to the spot exactly where I stood.

          She was still in love with Jake. Oh, hell no. Somehow, I couldn’t entirely grasp that fact.

          After remembering that that same guy was still downstairs, probably waiting for me, I decided to go back. I walked slowly and silently down the stairs that led to the basement, and to my bedroom. Jake had already been waiting in bed, scrolling through something on his cell phone.

          I scooted in next to him, under the covers, having already been clad in my pajamas. “Hey,” he said. “What took so long?”

          I hesitated before replying, “Audrey came stumbling down the staircase as I was coming back, then she puked in the bathroom. I was just helping her.” I told him somewhat of the truth. I didn’t exactly want to tell him everything that went down between me and Audrey, that she was still in love with him. I wasn’t even sure if she, herself, wanted him to know just yet.

           “Is she okay?”

           “Yeah, she’s fine. She’s only getting the after effects of all the alcohol.” I then changed the subject, not really wanting to talk about Audrey longer than needed. “Oh, and I got you a water bottle.”

           “Thanks.” He smiled as he wrapped one of his arms around me. “You’re better than I thought, you know that right?”

            “Better at what?” I asked him, pulling the covers up more so that they were at my shoulders. I scooted even closer to him, molding perfectly into him as his body warmth radiated on to me.

            “Payback.”

           I laughed, remembering the dazed look he had on his face earlier and looked up at him. “Oh, I’ve got a lot more where that came from, Jake.”

           There was a glint in his eyes that I couldn’t quite place my finger on as he said, “And I can’t wait to see what other tricks you’ve got in store.”

            “Trust me, you’ll see them when the time’s right.” I reached my hand forward, bringing his head down a little bit so I could kiss him. I thought it was funny how even if we just gave each other a small peck, I got the same feelings as if he were the only guy I’d ever want to kiss ever again. And in a way, he was. I hoped that that would never change. I pulled away from him. “Goodnight, Jake.”

           He gave me another short kiss before turning the light that was next to him off, and settling down under the covers. “Goodnight, Alex.” I felt like he wanted to add something, but struggled not to say it. And I felt the same way, I guess. I so badly wanted to say those three simple words right then and there, but the moment just didn’t feel completely right to me. Instead, I just put my head onto his chest and hugged him tight, like he was my lifeline. And as for right now, that would just have to be enough.

           But sadly, I wasn’t the only one that loved him as much as I did, because Audrey loved him too.

Author’s Note: What did you all think of that? Feedback?

This was shorter than my average chapter, but I guess it’s okay. Also, midterms are in a week, so I will be studying for those and will probably not write too much. I don’t have much to say, so yeah. First person to comment gets a dedication! (: x ♥

       ~Storylover11~